PR #18: The Glenlivet "The Guardians' Chapter" released in Australia

It was launched with much fanfare at an amazing degustation at Tetsuya's late last year, and just over 7 months later, after the 3 whiskies ("Classic", "Exotic" and "Revival") have made their way around the world and The Glenlivet's "Guardians" have cast their votes, the winning "Guardians' Chapter" whisky (Exotic) has been released.

For those who didn't see the posts last year, The Glenlivet's "The Guardians' Chapter" is the world's first crowd-sourced single malt whisky, whereby fans around the world were given the opportunity to try three expressions, and vote on their favourite. The winning expression was bottled (limited to 2,000 cases globally) and sold through select bottle shops (in Australia, only Vintage Cellars).

I, like many on the night, picked "Exotic" as my favourite (giving it 93/100), so I was just a little bit excited to hear that the world agreed, and it was selected as the winning expression. It was released officially last Thursday, for $114.99AUD. Considering that's the price of the 18yo, and this is quite a limited and unique release, that's good value in my books.

Here are the tasting notes I wrote back in September (some of which I was pleasantly surprised to see The Glenlivet had included on their official webpage for the whisky (screenshot from The Glenlivet's website below)!

Exotic (ex American and Sherry oak barrels, 48.5% ABV) - The darkest of the three (so fair to say it also has the most sherry cask influence). Incredible nose, with sweet dessert-like notes, but complex nutty and dried fruit notes too. Sherry notes on the palate, with shortbread, spongecake and vanilla macarons. A light, but complex and lengthy finishes rounds out what is an excellent whisky. The clear winner in my books. 93/100.

No word on how long it will stick around at Vintage Cellars, but given the limited release and good value, I'd guess not too long.

 

Cheers, 

 - Martin.